Plastic cards are used in a number of applications, such as identification cards, security badges, employee badges, driver's licenses, credit cards, membership cards, and the like. The use of card processing equipment for processing these types of plastic cards is well known. In such equipment, a plastic card to be processed is input into the processing equipment, at least one processing operation is performed on the input card, and the card is then output from the processing equipment. The processing operation(s) performed on the plastic card by known processing equipment includes one or more of printing, laminating, magnetic stripe encoding, programming of a chip embedded in the card, card cleaning, and the like.
The processing equipment is often configured in the form of a desktop unit. An example of a popular desktop plastic card processing unit is a desktop plastic card printer which performs monochromatic or multi-color printing on a card that is input into the printer. Examples of desktop units that perform printing are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,426,283; 5,762,431; 5,886,726; 6,315,283; 6,431,537; and 6,536,758. Of these, U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,283 describes a unit that performs chip programming in addition to printing.
Desktop card processing equipment is designed to be relatively small, so that the equipment can fit onto a desk or table. The desktop card processor may be positioned on a support surface with other office machines and workspace, so that table and desk space is at a premium. Therefore, the amount of desk or table space required for the desktop card processor (i.e., its “footprint”) should be minimized.
At the same time, it is desirable that a piece of desktop card processing equipment be able to perform multiple card processing operations, thereby increasing the performance capability of the equipment.
Additionally, desktop card processors should be easy to operate and maintain with only a minimal amount of specialized training. Desktop card processors are often operated by personnel for whom producing cards is only an incidental portion of their job, such as a security guard or a desk clerk, and not by personnel who have special training in such equipment. The operation and maintenance of the card processor should thus be relatively intuitive and straightforward. Furthermore, the cards that are output from the card processor must be of the highest quality, attractive, and durable.
While existing desktop card processing equipment has proven adequate, there is a continuing need for further improvements. In particular, there is a need for desktop card processing equipment that can perform multiple card processing operations on a card while maintaining a relatively compact footprint for the processing equipment.